The Liberty University Police Department introduced prayer boxes for students, faculty and staff this semester, hoping to continue this initiative for years to come.
With 10 prayer boxes scattered across campus, the department hopes to shower the campus and everyone on it in prayer.
LUPD Chief of Police Col. Gerald Irwin said this idea developed after receiving calls from parents.
“I get calls from parents, or emails from parents, how happy they were that one of our police or security officers prayed with their child who was having a difficult time at something, and I always thought, ‘man, what a great thing,’” Irwin said. “We’re really a law enforcement ministry.”
Irwin said prayer is part of his department’s workday, so the opportunity to pray with students on a deeper level was something he wanted to explore.
“We pray before any of our meetings that we have here,” Irwin said. “I really like the fact that we have the opportunity to pray for students. So, I said, ‘Well, how can we take it further?’”
Irwin said once the idea for prayer boxes came about, they began searching for places on campus to set them up.
“We spoke to different entities throughout the university and said, ‘Hey, can I put a prayer box here? This is what we want to do,’” Irwin said. “And so far, everyone we’ve talked to was like ‘absolutely.’”
He said the student response to the prayer boxes has been overwhelming and exciting for the team. He explained that each department divides the prayer requests and prays over the students daily.
“I think it’s a cool initiative, and it gives us an opportunity to pray, and that’s kind of what we’re here for too,” Irwin said. “We have to provide great law enforcement or police services and security services. But it’s also for the mission of the college — Train Champions for Christ — and the power of prayer is huge.”
Not only does the department pray for students, but they also take the time to pray over each box.
“We prayed over every box we put,” Irwin said. “A handful of us would go there and pray over the box that we can use it and to do God’s will and benefit him.”
LUPD Sgt. Nikkolas Tascone said when the prayer box initiative was brought to his attention, he was on board immediately.
“We started putting them out, and my squad especially has been good about praying with students on service calls,” Tascone said. “However, with the creation of these prayer boxes, that expanded our ability to get the community engaged.”
Tascone said he has seen spiritual growth in his own life, and he hopes to continue growing.
“To have that unique opportunity to be able to engage with our community on a more personal basis and get to actually interact with them is just absolutely indescribable,” Tascone said. “For me personally, it has been beyond anything I could ever ask for in terms of my spiritual growth.”
Prayer boxes are currently located in several spots across campus, including the Commuter Lounge in Green Hall, Reber-Thomas Dining Center on the front walls, the College of Osteopathic Medicine on the first floor near the elevators and lockers and the Jerry Falwell Library welcome desk area.
Commons I and Commons II are set to have boxes installed soon. Over the summer, LUPD will be working to expand the initiative and have boxes planted all across campus.
Riden is the campus news editor for The Liberty Champion.